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Ethics board rules on mayor's arena ticket use

The Baltimore City Ethics Board is calling on City Hall to change the way the mayor's office uses free tickets to events at the 1st Mariner Arena.

In its opinion released Wednesday, Board of Ethics Chairman Lu Pierson said board members found very few violations in the number of tickets distributed by the mayor's office and determined the office's acceptance of the tickets was covered under its contract with First Mariner Arena.

"In a very few instances, there had been a violation of the ethics rules because they had taken more tickets than had, in previous contracts, been authorized," Pierson said.

However, board members said they were troubled by the city's record-keeping, saying that in some cases it wasn't clear who city officials were giving the tickets to and who was using them.

"The mayor's office has been keeping a log, but the log sometimes lists first names and not last names, so it's very hard to determine who exactly went to the events," Pierson said. "So, we suggested that they develop a protocol that's more complete in terms of who they list and what the purpose of the tickets are."

The board is calling for changes, including a list of legitimate city purposes for which the tickets could be used and a format for tracking the tickets that identifies who received them.

The board noted it couldn't look at the current contract between the city and the arena because City Hall claims that contract has been lost.

A representative from the mayor's office told 11 News that the office is happy with the board's opinion and "that the tickets are lawfully provided and justified pursuant to a valid contract." The statement said, "The mayor's office has already adopted protocols to ensure continued compliance with the city's ethics code."

"They were very eager to cooperate with us in the investigation, and I have no reason to believe that they won't be cooperative going forward in respect to the protocols," Pierson said.

A representative from the mayor's office said the office has created a new system and procedures to better track the ticket distribution process. That will go into effect on Jan. 1.

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